Jose
Aldo withstood the most significant test of his featherweight
title reign, and it came as a surprise to no one that it was
Frankie
Edgar who administered it.

Buoyed by his trademark Louisville Slugger low kicks, a stringing
right jab and a flair for the spectacular, Aldo (22-1, 4-0 UFC)
retained his 145-pound championship with a unanimous decision over
Edgar in the UFC
156 headliner on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in
Las Vegas.

All three judges gave Aldo the nod: 49-46, 49-46 and 48-47. The
26-year-old Brazilian has won 15 fights in a row, cementing his
place as one of the sport’s pound-for-pound greats.

“It was a very difficult fight,” Aldo said. “Frankie is a great
fighter. I knew I had to walk step by step, round by round to get
the victory.”

Aldo sprang out of the gate like a thoroughbred, punishing “The
Answer” with his jab and low kicks. Rounds one and two clearly went
the champion’s way, as he utilized his dizzying combination of
technique, power and speed to keep the indomitable Edgar (15-4-1,
9-4-1 UFC) at bay.

By the middle of round three, however, Aldo had slowed and the
momentum had begun to shift ever so subtly. Edgar kept pushing his
frenetic pace and started to find a home for his punches, his
attack spearheaded by his right hand. A lightning-quick front kick
to the face from Aldo may have been all that kept him from
surrendering the round, as Edgar forced him to abandon his focus on
the legs for fear of being taken down.

“He knew that I was going to continue my kicking and try to take me
down,” Aldo said, “so I stopped my kicking and concentrated on
punches.”

Edgar turned up the heat over the final 10 minutes, hoisting and
slamming Aldo to the canvas in the fourth round and supplying more
multi-punch fire in the fifth. Aldo answered in the waning seconds,
as he sprang off the cage -- a la Anthony
Pettis -- and cracked his challenger with a beautiful Superman
punch.

“It was a close fight. I keep finding myself in these situations,”
said Edgar, who has lost his last three fights by decision.
“Congrats to Jose. He fought a great fight. I did [think I did
enough to win], but it doesn’t matter. Jose is the winner. I’m just
going to go home and take some time.”

‘Minotoro’ Nogueira Upsets Evans

In the light heavyweight co-main event, Rashad
Evans made the mistake of playing Antonio
Rogerio Nogueira’s game and wound up on the wrong side of a
unanimous decision as a result. All three judges arrived at the
same verdict: 29-28 for Nogueira (21-5, 4-2 UFC).

The 36-year-old Brazilian kept Evans (17-3-1, 12-3-1 UFC) on the
end of his stiff right jab and stout left cross for much of the
rather uneventful 15-minute confrontation. Evans secured his only
takedown late in the first round, allowing Nogueira to settle into
a rhythm on the feet. Neither man landed much of consequence on the
feet, but Nogueira struck with more volume, accuracy and authority
in the second and third rounds, helping him carry the
scorecards.

Evans has lost back-to-back fights for the first time as a
professional.

‘Bigfoot’ Silva Stuns Overeem

Josh
Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Getty Images

Silva silenced Overeem with punches.

Antonio
Silva turned Alistair
Overeem’s hubris against him, as he shocked the former Strikeforce
and Dream
champion with a third-round knockout in a heavyweight showcase.
Silva (18-4, 2-1) brought it to a dramatic close 25 seconds into
round three.

An overconfident Overeem toyed with “Bigfoot” for much of the first
10 minutes, smirking as he battered his body with knees from the
clinch in the first round and ripped into him with ground-and-pound
in the second. However, his inability to put away the gigantic
Brazilian came back to haunt him.

Silva tagged the Dutchman with a right cross to the side of the
head during their initial third-round exchange and then poured on
the punishment. More than 10 blows, including two sadistic right
uppercuts, found their mark before Overeem slumped to the mat,
buried by a hailstorm of punches and beaten for the first time in
more than five years.

“[You] win the fight in the cage, not outside,” Silva said. “He
talked a lot of s--- outside. I believe in myself. I believe in my
coaches and the guys who help me. I’m so happy. He didn’t expect
too much. I told him at the press conference, ‘Hey, I will make you
respect me, brother.’ I worked a lot of right hands and uppercuts.
I’m ready for anyone. I respect all heavyweights, but I’m
ready.”

Fitch (24-5-1, 14-3-1 UFC) generated almost no offense. Maia
delivered takedowns in all three rounds and kept the 34-year-old
Fort Wayne, Ind., native either pinned on the cage or grounded
hopelessly on the mat. To his credit, Fitch defended the
Brazilian’s persistent submission advances, but he was woefully
outgunned in the grappling department against the 2007 Abu Dhabi
Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold
medalist.

Maia is a perfect 3-0 since moving to 170 pounds.

Benavidez Outpoints ‘Uncle Creepy’

Team Alpha Male’s Joseph
Benavidez posted his fifth win in six appearances, as he
captured a unanimous decision from Ian McCall in
a flyweight showcase. All three cageside judges scored it the same:
29-28 for Benavidez (17-3, 4-1 UFC).

Benavidez landed with more volume and authority, wobbling “Uncle
Creepy” with a crisp left hook in the first round and a clubbing
right in the third. McCall (11-4-1, 0-2-1 UFC) answered in round
two, where he capitalized on a failed takedown attempt from his
opponent, moved briefly to mount and tagged Benavidez with some
effective ground-and-pound. Still, it was not enough of a statement
to turn the tide permanently in McCall’s favor.

“My last fight was close, and Ian was just as tough,” said
Benavidez, who rebounded from his September decision loss to
flyweight champion Demetrious
Johnson. “It was an awesome fight. I think it went great. I
think the judges got it right, which is awesome. I’m never
satisfied. If I’m going for another title shot, I’d like to be even
better [than I was] in this one.”

Although UFC 189 lost Jose Aldo, it remains an outstanding event that is filled with big names. Some of those noteworthy individuals will be competing for UFC gold. With Aldo out, Conor McGregor willread news >>

Jose Aldo passed his pre-UFC 189 out-of-competition drug test. The first and only UFC featherweight champion was randomly tested on June 12 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, tested negative for prohibited sread news >>

Even though the UFC featherweight champion will not defend his title at UFC 189 anymore, his out-of-competition urine test results still came back negative for all banned substances. Jose Aldo won't read news >>

Jose Aldo was negative for steroids and other performance-enhancers after a botched out-of-competition test conducted this past month by the NSAC in connection with Saturday’s UFC 189.Filed under: Neread news >>

The best featherweight outside the UFC is confident in beating the world's top fighters of his weight class. Conor McGregor is obviously not the only top-featherweight that is firing shots in the dirread news >>

In this week’s Trading Shots, Danny Downes and Ben Fowlkes discuss UFC featherweight champ Jose Aldo’s decision to pull out of his UFC 189 bout with an injury, despite the pressure to stick it out anread news >>

Just like Conor McGregor, though, he won't be getting that chance any time soon ... albeit for different reasons. Jose Aldo has no shortage of people who want to beat him up. It's hardly surprising gread news >>

Patricio Freire successfully defended his Bellator featherweight title with a second-round finish over Daniel Weichel last Friday at Bellator 138, and being able to coming back from a tough first rouread news >>

There's nothing of note going on in the cage this holiday weekend, which leaves plenty of room for Twitter chit-chat to fill the vacuum. And this week in the mixed martial arts news cycle . Jose Aldoread news >>